Cypriot President: each EU country should take own decisions on sanctions against Russia

NICOSIA, May 06, /ITAR-TASS/. European Union should allow each member-nation to make an independent choice in what concerns sanctions against Russia, Cyprus President Nikos Anastasiadis said Tuesday in Berlin after talks with Germany’s Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel.

His answers to reporters’ questions were released by the Cyprus bureau of press and information.

When asked about the Cypriot leaders’ stance on a possibility of economic sanctions against Russia, Anastasiadis said that, along with pursuing a common policy line, each country should be given a freedom of choosing the measures that would not bring about the situations overly burdensome for the economies of the EU countries.

He said this does not mean that no sanctions should be considered at all if they are really necessary but the measures should be taken with much caution and by each EU country separately.

Anastasiadis clearly took a somewhat different stance than Merkel, who told reporters after the talks that "it's important that all EU member states send the same message to Russia."

However, Merkel, too, admitted the presence of different economic interests in the member-states, saying that they had a different degree of dependence on the imports of Russian natural gas.

She voiced the conviction, though, that in spite of the probable aftermath of sanctions the EU would retain viability.